1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card receiving and ejecting device for information processing equipment, such as a computer or a word processor, or for a peripheral device.
2. Description of Related Art
Two kinds of structure are known for connecting information processing equipment, such as a computer or a word processor, with a peripheral device. In the first structure, as shown in FIG. 9 of the accompanying drawings, the peripheral device 2 is disposed under the information processing equipment 1 and they are connected to each other via a cable or directly by a connector. In the second structure, as shown in FIG. 10, the peripheral apparatus 2 is disposed around the information processing equipment 1 and they are connected to each other by a cable 3 and a connector. In FIGS. 9 and 10, reference numeral 4 designates a keyboard. These known connecting structures are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. Heisei 3-208112 and 4-8214.
The information processing equipment or peripheral device is provided with a card receiving/ejecting device for accepting an expansion card for expanding the function of the information processing equipment. In the case of providing the information processing equipment with two card receiving/ejecting devices, in general, two slots 5A and 5B into which the expansion cards are inserted are vertically arranged adjacent to each other as shown in FIG. 9. When the peripheral device 2 is of small size or thin type, two ejection buttons 6A and 6B for the slots 5A and 5B are also vertically arranged adjacent to each other beside the openings.
Peripheral devices of small-size or thin-type are strongly demanded for information processing equipments. In the case of vertically arranging the two ejection buttons 6A and 6B adjacent to each other, the ejection buttons 6A and 6B should be made thin and arranged close to each other so as to meet the demand of making the peripheral apparatus 2 small and thin in view of the fact that the thickness of each PCMCIA card slot 5A and 5B is only around 5 mm. Because the ejection buttons 6A and 6B are made thin and closely arranged, it is difficult to obtain good operability.
When an operator intends to press one ejection button, the other ejection button may possibly be pressed by mistake. Specifically since the upper ejection button 6A is positioned between the information processing equipment 1 and the lower ejection button 6B, the operability of the upper ejection button 6A would be poor and the lower ejection button 6B tends to be pressed by error. On the other hand, the lower ejection button 6B is easily pressed by lifting the peripheral apparatus 2 together with the information processing equipment 1.